Its not illegal now, Casino’s et al like all other private businesses however can refuse you service, so if they catch you ‘cheating’ that is what they do.
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Personally I am sick of all the gambling adverts on TV (my husband and I mute them whenever they come on). I wish the various sporting codes could find some other sponsors but I understand that must be difficult now that cigarette companies are a ‘no-go’ and beer companies, and sometimes fast food chains, also seem to cop flack for a similar reason. My biggest gripe, however is the timeslot that the gambling commercials are allowed to advertise in. I believe it should be in a later timeslot so it isn’t encouraging children to gamble… you may laugh and think I’m over re-acting but I have seen numerous media pieces on children betting and knowing about odds, etc. due to these ads. I wish we didn’t have to have them at all, but if we do consider the audience.
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“Sporting Codes” or are they just another business?
It might appear they are about being good sports, however with the trade marking and branding the alternative view might prevail? You only need to look to how sporting team brands are bought and sold in the USA. Whole teams can move just not cities but states. They are just a commodity like any other product. Who owns which football (soccer) club in the UK or Europe? It’s hard to keep up!
Sponsors if you go back to early TV were just an euphemism for big paying advertisers? When you look to the income of any professional major sport and compare it to how much the professional players earn, the players area a lesser cost in the total production.
When we go to a live performance, or we go to a movie, or a theatre or opera etc. we pay for the entertainment. The performers get paid. The production earns its keep or dies at the gate/box office. No one is betting on the outcome. Outside the promoter?
The ultimate irony perhaps is that we should all be betting on which code rules supreme? They are all locked into a battle to the bitter end. AFL, League, Union, Soccer. It’s a crowded market place competing for a limited pool of funds. Why would they not welcome gambling to the business? Providing no one in their sporting business (players especially) ever places a wager?
On the side lines there are many other sporting codes that get very little financial benefit. Their players are just as skilful and arguably even greater athletes than those lumbering around the supposedly hallowed football fields. And these other athletes do it for little financial benefit.
Is being a good sport about watching from the sidelines and taking sides, or would being a good sport be better served by participation.
That may be why so many of us accept gambling and sport as one. It’s a surrogate relationship for participation?
If we wish for other sponsors, should we be the first to turn our sponsorship (patronage) elsewhere? Don’t mute. We can always change the channel?
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Part of the problem (apart from the problem that many gamblers have) is the complete lack of natural light in poker machine areas. No natural light, no awareness of the passing of time, no awareness of how much you’re spending. But the clubs know this and that is exactly why you wont find windows in poker machine rooms. Used to. Not these days.
My Dad claimed to have a problem with gambling, he would not touch a machine. He said if he ever did, he would not stop. Mum played a bit, but restricted the amount she would spend. She usually won small amounts and came out ahead by a few dollars. She was never looking for a big score. I played machines once in a great while when at a club with friends. I would only spend $10 and if I made no wins with that, pouf, gone. I found the whole process intensely boring and I dont even do that anymore.
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I’ve worked in hospitality for many years, and personally think the move to give pokies to pubs was a huge disgrace and based on lies. Many will state that it creates jobs when in fact it has the opposite effect, it results in shifts getting cut for staff. The fact is that whilst they claim it’s for “entertainment” the majority of pokie players I had dealings with were habitual players. They come into a venue and head to the closest ATM which of course cannot be in the pokie room, so you’ll always find it as close to the entry of the pokie area as possible (funny that). They grab their cash and head into the pokies, begin to play, and often you will not see them again until they leave. It takes a minimum number of staff to run a pokie room (1 in most instances) and that can be a room holding up to 50 people in a pub. Normally for that amount of people you’d have 2 or 3 staff behind the bar depending on the time of night including the supervisor. When they are all in the pokie room that is reduced to 2 people - a supervisor and a bar person. Most habitual pokie players do not drink aside from the free soft drinks/coffee that the venue provides - easy bar service there for one person! That same person will also run in the free snacks provided, and both snacks and drinks keep people in there longer - no tummy rumbles or thirst problems. The lack of natural light in most venues as mentioned earlier also keeps them in there, but at least the legislation changed in NSW so they now have to have clocks visible from all machines (and most new machines have clocks on their screen). It’s highly doubtful though that most habitual gamblers take much time to look at clocks in pokie areas, that’s not what the players are there for lol. I’ve talked to many a “problem gambler” (love how the industry never says addict) and over half those I’ve talked to do not have a problem with any other form of gambling - horses, lotteries, keno, etc. Their only gambling addiction is the machines. Venues talk about self exclusion and that’s all well and good, but you have to jump through hoops to get it done, and that’s only if the venue has the correct form for you to fill out. Liquor & Gaming legislates that venues must have the correct forms, but sadly many do not. As a side note in my many years working in venues I am yet to see an inspector from Liquor & Gaming (or a police officer doing the duties of an inspector). Come to think of it the number of general police walkthroughs for anything in pubs and clubs has declined significantly, can’t remember when the last one I saw was
You will never get government to make any real change to the pokie industry as they are as addicted to the gambling dollar as the venues who run the machines. As mentioned earlier a ban will not be the fix people need anyway, but there are good ways to lessen the harm that the machines do and it goes to the way they are designed to addict people. Yes the pokie manufacturers have spent huge amounts on psychological studies on the best ways to trigger an addiction in the brain. If you had a government that was brave enough they could legislate that the machines could be kept by venues, but that they run in silent mode - no enticing bells, whistles or music. In the studies I’ve seen the sounds have an equal addictive strength to the motions of the spinning wheels and the “just missed” graphic on the last wheel - where you see the picture that would have got you the free spins or jackpot fall to 1 spot below the centre line. So if you take away the sounds then theoretically you’d be halving the addiction strength.
On gambling advertising they will only tinker around the edges because once again the gambling dollar rules. I can ignore the ads like others have said but what I really can’t stand is the implanted advertising in the broadcast games of the football codes. In rugby league for example in a break in play (such as packing a scrum) they’ll cut to a Sportsbet “commentator” to give the latest update on odds in the game. To kids this seems like a part of the game so will “normalise” gambling to them as they grow. By the time they are legal age to bet they’ll have been indoctrinated by their football code due to the exposure of stealth advertising for a decade or more. That in no doubt is the long term strategy for the gambling firms since they cannot advertise directly to kids, but they can serve them up gambling ads through their favourite football code.
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Quite so. You will see that many of the ads for online gambling try to use group pressure to push young men into betting. The advert shows the odd one out who doesn’t have their gambling app on his phone and doesn’t have it in front of him half the day, he is weak and confused but the gamblers are cool and manly. The appeals to masculinity (‘back yourself’ oh really?) can be even more explicit. Apparently young women have more sense as they do not get targeted nearly as much.
The ease of access of having pokies in pubs and gambling apps on phones are a large part of the normalising of such foolish activities for the common man. Casinos are rare and much less accessible and aimed at the would-be sophisticate. The bloke at the BBQ looking at his phone would run a mile rather than go to a casino where he wouldn’t know how to behave.
As the industry knows well a side benefit of normalization is to mobilise a new cohort as knee-jerk opposition to regulation of gambling. It’s all quite cunning - you need to exhibit your freedom of choice by losing a poultice at every opportunity. The Nanny State is an attempt to take away your freedom to be an absolute fool.
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Some more articles regardig gambling.
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Absolutely, I think that every time I see their ads, tobacco only a tiny bit worse. Gambling ads need to be banned as well.
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“Underage gambling is “normalised” in Australia, with a landmark study showing one in six people aged 16 to 17 placing bets or wagering money.”
As long as you gamble, you feel like an Australian’: one in six teenagers gambling underage
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So many industries getting a handout from the Gov. Now its the horse racing industry. No one goes to watch horse racing now. Its just used for gambling companies to make profit from gamblers. These companies should bail out the horse racing industry, as well as other sports. Why use tax payer money to prop up an industry when the big profits go to gambling companies?
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How much of all gambling turnover is also collected as taxes by government?
The relationships are about more than gambling companies. Horse Racing, “The sport of Kings”, has always had some government support around the nation.
It’s perhaps simplistic to suggest businesses tied through sponsorships or other needs to horse racing or professional sport should do more. There are many businesses and employees to consider.
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I worked for the AJC (now ATC) for decades. What you say is partly true, actually these days about 50% true lol. There are other aspects to horse racing though that aren’t as well documented in the public sphere. I’m not talking about their stretched truth regarding jobs such as hospitality where they mention tens of thousands of workers. That is technically true, but those ‘tens of thousands’ hospitality workers are employed for about 7 weeks in total for the year. The real number of hospitality employees week-to-week on a racecourse is more around the hundred mark give or take - and that’s on a major metropolitan racecourse such as Randwick.
You do have to factor into the equation the rural & regional race circuit where it does supply jobs in a more meaningful way, purely because of where those racetracks are situated. Then also count in breeding studs and training sites, most of which are also located in country & regional areas. They are much more of a 7 day a week operation and do have a noticeable economic impact to those towns close to them. Then the suppliers of feed, vet supplies, saddlery, etc and the numbers start to add up.
Do I believe that the government should subsidise the industry though? Only in exactly the same way they are supporting every other industry - jobkeeper allowance for those employees they keep engaged. Those breeding and training establishments are not on a hard wicket - just look at the various yearling sales around the country to see the prices they sell for. Also take into account the over-breeding of horses and the despicable things that happen to those thousands of horses that don’t end up on the racetrack, and they shouldn’t get a coin extra until they completely clean up their act.
Both your own and mark_m’s points about where the majority of the money goes is true though - online bookies, TAB’s & governments are the main game. Government especially has a lot to answer for, considering it’s their addiction to the gambling dollar that allows racing to continue whilst COVID-19 is going. Don’t believe a word of the rubbish about social distancing in racing - jockeys are close together in the barrier stalls and around the track (touching at times), barrier attendants are almost always in touching reach as that is their job, and officials are always close to each other conversing about what went on in the race before they can give it the all clear - things they do not discuss at a loud volume from a couple of metres apart lol. You might as well say that the joke of the NRL starting up with social distancing is in the realms of reality too - although being a Souths supporter I do have to say my team practised social distancing in defense for 30 years lol.
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Recent Qld TV advertising is promoting how those gambling through lotteries are supposedly doing good by supporting various community activities.
This is one of those doubtful truths.
Only some of the money gambled finds it’s way back to the community. A portion goes to the selling agents. Another portion goes to paying winners.
Is the industry transparent?
One set of statistics. It’s not clear if this accounts for all the moneys gambled or just a portion.
https://mediacentre.thelott.com/statistics/
Why waste money on the lotteries? Is it better to put that cash aside and donate it to your preferred charity, sporting team, or perhaps to Choice to assist funding of more great work? When donating directly every dollar goes to the charity, association and not a minor fraction.
Honesty if lotteries intend to offer the truth is to advise the exact percentage of sales that goes directly to serving the community. Whether the recipients are all as deserving as some of us might like is also open to debate?
P.S.
I thought of comparing the odds of winning big in any of the lotteries or passing on from catching Covid. One is a clear winner to my way of looking at it.
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This is a known fact and applies to any form of gambling, whether pokies, at a casino, at the race track or through lotteries.
My understanding is the amount needed to be returned to the community is regulated by the gambling licensing agency…namely the relevant state government agency where the lottery/gambling is licensed to take place. In Queensland it is Business Queensland.
If it’s the minimum percentage to be paid as winnings- that is regulated. (Eg Qld)
The regulated percentage of winnings is after operating expenses which put hundreds of millions into the local News Agents as one example. There is substantial small business wealth in that sector.
The promotion on TV is about some of the proceeds of gambling through lotteries being returned to support particular community organisations. That is not regulated. It’s at the discretion of government as a I understand it.
The doubtful marketing is the gambling (lotteries industry) claiming those payments to clubs etc as a justification for gambling on their product.
I rarely watch commercial TV. With the Olympics coverage on Seven it’s been a whole new commercial advertising experience, including alcohol advertising in the late afternoon and early evening time slots. Could I suggest it’s a new low point in government turning a blind eye to poor business practices. Perhaps it’s just me that finds it objectionable. The Industry Code of Practice and standards are largely self regulated.
As for whether gambling through Lotteries is justifiable evil because some of the money goes to a local club, sport etc. It’s not value for the dollar invested. The odds of a win like any gambling always favour the promoters.
P.S.
It’s not that I’ve never purchased a lotto entry. It’s a great way to remind oneself that the chances of winning are exceptionally rare. Zero return is the norm.
The way Crown’s share price is going South even before the outcomes of the Royal Commissions in Vic and WA, perhaps this might be another gambling ad in the not too distant future.
“For Sale. 3 casino properties. Licences not included. For further details, email J.Packer@scientology.con”.
Yes we are being bombarded by an ever increasing proliferation of TV commercials for gambling apps, which always feature happy faces of people winning. The product wouldn’t sell if they showed us the disgruntled faces of people losing.
Much TV advertising has happy smiling faces and people nodding their heads and saying “yes”. It’s part of the marketing game - and not just for gambling apps.
However gambling app commercials are followed by the obligatory message from the gambling help line.
So that makes it all OK???
Except I note that NSW State Lottery commercials also feature happy people shown winning a motza, but they are NOT followed up by a message from the gambling help line.
Is there a double standard here?
Or is NSW State lottery not considered a form of gambling?
For those who might be interested, SBS TV occasionally airs a documentary called “Kaching Pokie Nation” which is an exposé of the poker machine industry and the science, psychology and manipulation that goes on behind the scenes of “gaming machines”. It’s a big eye opener and well worth a watch.
BB
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If there were any doubts that there is a comfortable relationship between the gambling business model and the sports business models.
“Look, it’s entertainment,” V’landys told 9News before flying to negotiations in Las Vegas. “You don’t gamble to win money, you don’t do it to become rich; you do it to entertain yourself.
“Just like you go to a restaurant and you buy a meal – that’s entertainment. As long as you’re responsible with what you’re spending with that entertainment, it’s no different to anything else.”
One might ask if it’s entertaining to spend an evening in a restaurant, and on leaving pay a large bill not having eaten or drunk anything? Possibly leaving the same empty gut wrenching feeling. I get it, not. 
P.S.
For the gambling businesses does attaching one’s fortunes to those of the sporting code business empires makes good economic sense? They sports businesses receivebenefits of government support through funding of stadium and connecting infrastructure thru to concessional tax status as not for profit organisations.
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This sounds just like a shill for the industry that consistently tells us the reverse in its advertising. Fool or liar, fool or liar, I can’t decide.
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No it isn’t. Nor is it entertaining to pay for food and drink at a restaurant only to have a heart attack soon after. Both gambling and eating out out are entertainment when done in moderation.
I find it amusing that the Guardian and others are concerned about the prospect of gambling becoming normalised in Australia. At latest, that ship sailed when the first fleet arrived.
Not that I pay a lot of attention to gambling advertisements, but those for online bookies seem to focus on having fun (by their definition) and telling people why they should bet with a particular brand rather than competitors. Whilst some depict people winning, they don’t refer to people always winning and/or becoming rich. The warning about losing at the end of those ads probably takes as much time as the winning scenes.
In stark contrast to the ads for bookies, ads for lotteries seem to be heavily based on how much you can win and how you life could change. However, the comment by PVL relate to sports betting.
